A recipient of “The Medal of Excellence in Education” bestowed upon him by his Majesty King Abdulla II, current President of the Jordan Society for Scientific Research, and Professor of Soil Physics at UJ’s Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. Battikhi received his B.Sc. in 1967 and his M.Sc in 1969 in Soils & Irrigation from the American University of Beirut, and in 1977, he received his Ph.D. in Soil Physics from Iowa State University.

After obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Battikhi joined the Department of Soils & Irrigation at The University of Jordan as an Assistant Professor, where he was subsequently promoted through the ranks. He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Florida. His interests include soil moisture conservation and management, crop water requirements, irrigation scheduling, soil management and conservation, crop modeling, soil water measurement, soil physical properties, irrigated crops, and water harvesting.

He is a member of a number of honorary and scientific societies and has around 130 published papers, books, and studies in both regional and international journals. He also supervised the research work of about 25 graduate students.

Throughout his professional life, Dr. Battikhi held several key positions including President of the Hashemite University, Secretary General of the Higher Council for Science & Technology, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tafila Technical University, Vice President of Jordan University of Science and Technology, and Director of the East Ghor Canal Project. At UJ, he held the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dean of the Deanship of Academic Research, Director of the Center for Consultations, and Chairman of the Department of Soils and Irrigation.

Dr. Battikhi served on several boards, councils and committees in various capacities, including member of His Majesty’s King Abdulla II Economic Consultative Council, Vice-Chairman of the Fulbright Jordanian-American Commission for Educational Exchange, member of the Council of Education and Teaching, Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, Acting Chairman of the Accreditation Committee of Universities at the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education, member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Balqa Applied University, Chief Editor of UJ’s “Dirasat” Journal, and member of the Editorial Board of the Jordan Journal of Agricultural Sciences.

In addition to “The Medal of Excellence in Education” bestowed upon him by his Majesty King Abdulla II, Dr. Battikhi received numerous awards including UJ’s “Distinguished Researcher Award,” the "Arab Creativity Award" from the Arab Thought Foundation (Science Creativity Award in Water and Soil Physics Sciences) / Dubai, "The Distinguished Scientist Award" from the Association of Agricultural Engineers, "The Most Distinguished Alumnus Award in Agriculture and Education" from the American University of Beirut, the Scopus Award, "The Iowa State University most Distinguished Alumni Award," and The Abdel Hamid Shoman Award for Best Young Scientist in the Arab World.